I thought it would be kind of cool to keep a photo journal of the construction of Empire Field, the 2010 home of the BC Lions that will be built at the site of the old Empire Stadium. I took a drive down today and snapped these pictures to start off our series. Hopefully I can keep this updated from now until it’s finished at various intervals.

The view from the south endzone of the North Shore Mountains

At this stage there is a lot prep work for the field going down, some leveling and drainage preparation by the looks of things. Some of the bleachers have arrived, and were used at Cypress Mountain for the Olympics.

Standing in the South endzone and looking at the North Shore mountains, I got pretty excited about watching outdoor football this season!

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The BC Lions returned to the location it all began this past weekend, holding a community practice and autograph session at Empire Field, the former home to Empire Stadium which was the club’s original home. Empire was demolished after the construction of BC Place stadium.

Here are a few pictures from the event. It sure would be nice is someone could find a way to build a new stadium in this spot.

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Abbotsford BC – The BC Lions held their annual fan fest Sunday under sunny skies at Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford, home of the team’s 2009 training camp. The event is somewhat of a pep rally for the team, where fans can mingle with their favourite players as well as get autographs and pictures. There are activities for children, a silent auction and a 50/50 draw to support high school football.

The players were brought in through a line of high school players from WJ Mouat Secondary and the sound of drums before dispersing to sign autographs and pose for photographs with fans.

The afternoon concluded with a team scrimmage that saw some nice plays by the likes of Andrew Harris, Geroy Simon, Buck Pierce, and Terence Scott among others.

Check out our Fan Fest 2009 photo gallery!

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